Scene Change
Following the camera, the destruction caused by the reinforced lightning feather was evident, leading to the feather's final resting place.
It landed in a small house.
The glass was shattered.
A person under the window trembled, a wooden cup in their hand pierced by Yujin's feather.
By now, the feather had lost its Lightning Chakra infusion, and the Armament Haki had long dissipated.
Yet, even with only its raw hardness, it almost terrified Ikumi of the East Sea Squad, who was calmly drinking tea moments ago.
She had never seen a weapon so hard before.
Captain Miyata Kuraki of the East Sea Squad reassured her, "Don't be afraid! The attack should be over. Skills like this at long range won't have a second shot! Ikumi! Pull yourself together!"
Ikumi nodded, trembling, but the situation remained grim.
She had just attempted to scan the Central Continent team with her psychic force to analyze their current situation and member distribution.
But as soon as she activated it, she was struck by the pinpoint attack of the lightning feather.
The impact was huge.
It was like peeking through a telescope at the building across the street in the middle of the night, only to see someone setting up a sniper at their window… and in the next second, your own vase gets blown apart.
Masao, who had exchanged his Toguro bloodline for power, tensed his entire body and glanced at the empty street outside.
He exhaled slowly. "The intel from the North Polar Team was correct. The Central Continent team Squad has a very powerful member."
Miyata Kuraki gripped his sword tightly.
"This is not going to be easy! At this distance, the moment Ikumi started scanning, she was already detected. That means the Central Continent team Squad's psychic force user is definitely a seasoned expert, level five or higher."
Sweat dripped down his forehead. "They probably already know all the details about our squad… and we have no idea."
Ikumi looked up, trembling.
"He… he almost killed me!"
Miyata Kuraki shook his head.
"Not necessarily. From what I see, this time, it was meant as a warning. He wants to…"
"Join forces with us and wipe out the North Polar Team!"
Just as Yujin returned to the second floor, he ran straight into a woman.
Zhan Lan rushed toward him in a panic. "The other party's aura disappeared. I didn't feel any mental scan anymore. They must have stopped trying to probe our location. Captain… you also have a psychic‑sense ability?"
Yujin frowned. "What are you talking about?"
"I mean… didn't you sense hostility within the mental range and then make a move because of that?"
Yujin froze for a moment. "You're saying… the place where I just threw that thing—there were members of another team there?"
Zhan Lan swallowed hard. "Yes."
Seeing Yujin confused, Zhan Lan's tension eased a little. "Maybe… maybe it was just your sixth sense."
Yujin didn't respond.
Because he felt that it might be related to his Observation Haki.
But at that distance… could his current Observation Haki even reach that far?
While the two were talking, the communicators on their waists started ringing at the same time.
"All members, prepare for combat in thirty minutes."
Chu Xuan's voice was as emotionless as ever. Zheng Zha, who had just relaxed his shoulders, couldn't help asking, "Combat? But weren't there only two Ghostface Killers left? Once they're gone, we can return. Why do we need a team battle?"
"Of course we do~" Chu Xuan's tone sounded like he was lecturing a troublesome student. "Do you think the East Sea team and the North Polar Team would just quietly accept their losses, hand over reward points and side‑plot gains, and obediently return to the Lord God Space without doing anything?"
Zheng Zha sighed. "Alright, keep talking."
Chu Xuan paused for about five seconds before continuing. "I went through every file these past few days. Every case has been solved, but we only captured eight killers. So I started investigating the town's death records."
"The result was the same. It was as if this world only ever intended to give us eight Ghostface Killers to catch. The last two simply don't exist."
"Or… their killing conditions haven't been triggered yet."
"So I tried pulling every police officer back, shutting down all public cameras, and reopening the underground black market."
"No matter how much I turned this place into a paradise for crime… not a single additional Ghostface Killer appeared."
"I tried creating a fake Ghostface Killer through psychological suggestion. After catching him, the numbers still didn't increase."
"I also tried putting on the ghost mask myself and killing a random passerby. Even after being caught, it still didn't work."
As he spoke, Zhang Jie couldn't help but interrupt.
"Wait, you said you were caught? Then how are you not in trouble now?"
Chu Xuan explained as if it were the most natural thing in the world.
"I silenced everyone who knew about this. Deleted all the records."
There was static in the communicator. No one responded.
Chu Xuan continued.
"I finally have the answer."
Yujin couldn't help but ask.
"What is it?"
"The last killer… I'm afraid they'll emerge from one of the other two teams."
"And I've already guessed the mission of the North Polar Team. Only the East Sea team is unknown."
"So that means the last two killers will come from the East Sea team. And as outsiders, the targets they have to kill will definitely be our team members or those from the North Polar Team."
"Only when the two killers have eliminated us—or the North Polar Team members—and we catch them, will the mission be considered complete. Only then can we return to the Lord God Space."
After hearing this analysis, everyone fell silent, taking a long moment to digest it.
But Yujin lowered his voice and linked the channel directly to Chu Xuan.
Right in front of Zhan Lan, he whispered loudly.
"Tell me… who in our team are you going to hand over to the East Sea team?"
Without hesitation, Chu Xuan replied.
"Li Shuaixi."
He paused for a moment, then added, "The other one… doesn't matter."
****
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